From January 1, 2026, Latvia is set to prohibit the teaching of Russian as a second foreign language in schools.

Starting the same date, Russian-language TV and radio broadcasting will be banned in state media. Additionally, the VAT on sales of Russian-language books will increase to 21%.

These measures aim to reduce the presence of the Russian language and strengthen the role of the Latvian language in society.

Russian is the native language for 36% of Latvians.^[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language_in_Latvia]

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[–] narwhal@mander.xyz -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

They consider incompatible with their values to mandate foreign actors indentify as such. The country needs to be wide open for political meddling, otherwise the garden will close its doors.

Edit: Not defending EU, see my other comment for context.

[–] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

They consider incompatible with their values to mandate foreign actors indentify as such.

Lol so they're so incompetent they can't look past "does this guy speak Russian?" In their foreign actor counterintelligence?

This is cartoon level shit, like something you'd see from American Dad. Also they're in for a real surprise when they learn about ~~modern~~ pre Caesar espionage tactics talking about choosing actors fluent in the language of your target.

[–] narwhal@mander.xyz 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You misunderstand. I'm not trying to justify these measures. I'm pointing out their policy is not meant to safeguard human rights, but rather to exercise control. If you remember back in 2024 when Georgia introduced the foreign agents law, and EU officials were not happy about it, saying it was a pro russia law. This is what they said as I remember, that such a law was incompatible with european standards. In reality they were just sour that their assets in political interference abroad would lose effectiveness. My comment about garden closing its doors was a reference to back then EU official Josep Borell infamous metaphor comparing europe to a garden and the other countries to a jungle, as such was the fate of Georgia.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

clearly their values don't include basic human rights, so that of itself says all we need to know about the fascist organization that is the EU